Seeing Is Believing

They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the feeding trough. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

Luke 2:16-18

Remember back in the day when MacBook Air computers came out? They were so remarkably thin that Newsweek writer Steven Levy even managed to lose his. He thinks it was so thin that either he or his wife (she’s the only one to blame, right?) threw it out with a stack of magazines. Amazing.

Oh wait, that wasn’t very long ago. Only, the “amazing” factor has long since worn off and we’re off to the latest technology trick du jour. We’ve become a pretty jaded lot, and it takes a lot to keep us amazed. Yet how often do we miss the miraculous in the every day? Like sunrise and sunset. Like laughter and friendship. Like love and forgiveness. Like life itself. Or the fact that the God of the universe wants to connect with us.

Luke 2:16-18 tells us that everyone who heard the news about Jesus on the night He was born was amazed. And rightly so. A Messiah coming to bring salvation? That’s definitely amazing. God’s Son coming to live here as one of us? Absolutely amazing. A Person coming to usher in a new way of existence? Also amazing.

But have we forgotten what it means to be amazed by that news? Has it been awhile since you’ve noticed the presence of God in your life? Keep looking. God is with us, and that’s no less amazing today than it was 2,000 years ago. This Christmas season you may just find yourself authentically amazed. What are the things that amaze you? Is there anything that amazes you over and over? Where do you see the miraculous in your every day?

Excerpted from the Personal Bible Study section of LifeMatters, December 2008.